HK/shenzhen: days 7 & 8

sup sup yall.

yesterdayyy was my last day in hong kong... after some f'ing around, we left the place at 12noon and hopped on a train to china. it's only my parents & claudia & her mum here, the rest stayed in HK. we were here by 2.30 after crossing the border and whatnot, was quite interesting actually.

after getting a feed and whatnot (the food here isnt great) we checked out the local mall. fuck me dead talk about shopping heaven. it has everything that HK has for half the price, plus more. tiffany, chanel, LV, YOU NAME IT THEY HAVE IT. the shops are real small but if you want something you just gotta ask... and they bring out all these catalogues and you just choose what you want, then they get on their phones and speak crazy loud and fast, and next thing you know theres this whole box of fake shit infront of you. bargaining here is crazy. if you dont manage to get down to about half the starting price then youre being ripped off. its so freaking cheap i cannot get over it.

we shopped until 11pm last night, and by the time we realised we were hungry, all the resteraunts were closed except for one, and it was so funny because they didn't speak english, so they had to get an indian chef to come and translate for us..... what a sight!! us speaking english to an indian who is translating into chinese. LOL.

slept in the same room as claudia and her mum last night because claudia wanted me to. LOL.

today was just the same. had breakfast and then shopped until lunchtime, and then more shopping. all in one single mall. it's 5 levels but we only really stayed on the top 2. today i ordered a blazer & 2 work skirts from the tailors, gotta pick it up tomorrow. then i got some bags for the girls, and bought another tiffany necklace for myself. have decided that when i get back into sydney im gna get a real one, though. i also got x2 prescription specs for $40 each! so cheap! claudia and i also got a manicure each, and i got a pedicure... it was so weird having someone else touch my feet... eww. it was so wack, that angela johnson film clip about the nail salons is SO TRUE, when youre in the seat they try and upsell you hardout, they charged claudia $10RMB ($2AUD) just to paint her nails LOL she was spewing, cos you cant understand them so you dont know if what theyre doing is extra or not. but whatever it was a good experience.

we got home at about 10pm today, so exhausted from shopping but i could honestly spend another day here. ive heard that guangzou is even better!! definately coming here again.

tomorrow we're leaving to go to the village where my grandpa was born to visit his side of the family. meeting the chongs and tovas there.

went to check out the gym tonight, its pretty hectiiiic. the swimming pool is awesome too, made me really excited for fiji in january!!! <3 meant to be going to the gym with claudia tomorrow morning, we'll see how that goes... LOL.

over and out
xx

HK: day 5 & 6

forgot to update yesterday, got home and was buggered as.

mum couldnt make her up mind what to do, so my mum, porpor and i went to the other appartment to meet the two girls & my aunties. everyone else was at the rugby 7s... from there we went to the local mall again, and while my aunty jane got a haircut (talk about transformation!!) i spent a bucketload (not really) on two dresses, lots of fake eyelashes, some MAC eyeshadow and a brush set for steph. was fun cos it was like a mini market within the shopping centre.

after that my mum & i went to langham place, which is the 5 star hotel we usually stay at, and used their free internet LOL. such a local that i know which hotels have free business centres :P then we shopped a bit at the plaza, found a MAC stall which was good!! then after we got sick of that we headed to the markets where i found myself a few more underground tiffany & chanel stalls and spoilt myself (and my frends) silly.

then we went to 'times square HK' for dinner with some relatives. was heaps stoked to do 'earth hour' but forgot about it over dinner cos we were all starving!!

my poor dad is sick, with a headache and a fever. to be honest i just think he's sick of my mum's brothers & sisters. i dont blame him... lots of dramas with my family, so glad we dont live in NZ.

TODAY was a different story. woke up with no plans on what to do, was prepared to just stay in bed all day. but then i found out that we had an inside connection for free tickets to the rugby sevens, jumped at the opportunity because tickets are worth like $200AUD each!! so we quickly got ready and headed to Hong Kong stadium, just missed Australia play England, they lost :( semi glad i wasnt in there to witness it... i semi loathe going to football games cos i get so annoyed at the opposing team's supporters lol esp. if theyre posh old englishmen/woman!! im sure they say the same about us aussies though. anywaysss after all this dramarama we finally got in, watched fiji NARROWLY beat south africa (harharr!) then just chilled for a while. all in all it was a good day, some of us where situated right in the fiji crowd who were going nuts, but the rest of us including me went all the way to the top. good view, could see the whole field...

fiji lost against NZ. finals was between NZ and samoa, samoa made a killer comeback in the 2nd half to win by 2 points. australia won the cup finals which is like lower division, it felt good cheering from them. shoulda heard the whole crowd booing them, i swear no one likes australia lol we're just too good haaaa not. the best team to watch though was HK, the whole crowd loved them!! it was so overwhelming, i'd hate to have been playing against them, the poor italians in the semis and russians in the finals... the crowd was full booing whenever they scored etc.

the highlights of the day would have definately been the mexican wave, started by the fiji stand, which circled around the stadium 3 times!! it was so much fun. the second would be this man that ran onto the field and climbed the goal post, and then pretended to surrender but then outran like 5 seccie guards LOL! funny as.

after that went for dinner with the same relatives as last night, and here i am now.

overall it was a good day filled with laughs with my cousins & fambam. definately keen to go to wellington sevens which is apparently x49380293 better, but more about the social scene and less about the sport.

tomorrow am headed to shengzu or something, a little town on the border of HK & china. apparently they have good shopping there so we'll see how it goes. so yerh might not be online for a while, but i thiiink i heard my dad saying that the internet there was free so fingers crossed!!!!

until next time
xx

HK: day four

struggled a bit today. tried to talk it out but just made it worse. just not gonna think about it. been doin a pretty good job of it so far. just a little hiccup today. whatever.

ANYWAYS.

today my cousins came to pick me up and we headed to sneaker street. it was funny, us 5 kids wandering the streets like lost ones lol. i bought a new pair of vans <3 them purple hi-tops that i fell in love with at first sight. for some reason i got it HEAPS cheaper so it turned out to be like $60AUD bargainnn! after that cameron bought his soccer boots finally after searching for like 2 days for his size in a specific pair.

after that we went back to the appartment with the cousins etc, they were meant to get ready to go to sevens but they decided not to go today as it was just like warm up games anyway. soooo we had a feed, latham discovered this shop near their place that sells bbq pork w/ rice for like $10HK which is less than $2AUD... cheap as!! he had it for breakfast lunch and afternoon snack lol. but yerh we all had that for lunch...

after a bit of chilling playing card games & catching up on family goss (the kids know more than the pre-adults i swear!), we checked out the local mall, where we maxed out at the supermarket. imagine an asian grocer, but x4328 better!! we were in heaven, they even hav cappacinno flavoured maltesers here!!! lol.

after that headed to the markets and thats where the excitement began :) got x4 long champ bags and some presents for the girls. wanted to get moremoremore but ran out of cash on me lol. gonna go back tomorrow with my mumma :) got hectic bargaining skills now!! these bracelets were meant to be $89 each but i managed to get 5 for $100!!! thats skill right thurr :) (dont freak out, keep in mind 7HKD = 1AUD)

after spending all my monayyy, latham shouted us dinner... at maccas lol high roller. nah was good though was semi getting sick of wonton. who am i kidding no i'm not. but idk, missed my cheeseburgers & maccas coke lol.

then i got the train home all by myself. that's right... roaming the streets of HK by myself like a true local. NOT. dressed in obvious tourist clothes holding a big bag full of market goodies lol, i took the wrong exit out of the train station tryna be all clever, thought it was a short cut but no it wasn't. had to ask the popo for directions but i got home in the end :)

then i got home when my parents were eating take-out in the hotel room, and there was a bowl of wonton waiting for me :) too bad i was stuffed, we had been eating pretty much all day from food stalls on the street. at first my cousins were like eww no... but then after devouring a bag of fried squid & washing it down with a taro milk tea, they gave in. i should advertise for food LOL. get paid for eating what a laugh.

my mum was so excited to take me to the shops downstairs from my hotel and how could i resist, my mum HATES shopping. so we went, thought she was gonna show me all these things i'd like cos i gotta admit its been hard finding clothes i like here. but no she just wanted my opinion on everything she had tried on but was double minded about buying LOL. bless her.

after that i picked my porpor up from the other apartment, she went to disneyland today with the mclellans. lol how cute. and here i am. tired as, and about to conk out.

xxxxx

HK: day three

started off the morning in a seedy old run down resteraunt in mong kok, eating THE BEST wontons ever. sat by myself and everything! felt like a real local... NOT. bet they were talking to me, i didnt even have my phone to keep me occupied, & couldnt even read the things on the wall because it was all in freaking chinese! lol so i just sat there watching the lady making the wontons, so fast!!!

after that, did a bit of shopping at the local markets and then headed via bus to Harbourside, where i purchased some MAC makeup for Cassie & Steph. thinking about going back there tomorrow to do a bit more damage... so cheap here!! like half price!!

once that was done we hopped on a famous 'star ferry' to central, where from there we caught a bus to stanley markets... where nearly all the 7s teams were shopping!! copped myself a few souvenirs for you guys aaaand... a jimmy choo bag for myself <3 woot woot.

after that went to HK TIMES SQUARE, where we ate dinner. i was craving those little japanese octopus balls hardout so imagine my deeelight! (hamish and andy lol) when i saw it on the menu! quite nice i must say. then went to the markets where i got some nice and plain silver studs for 50c a pair lol. shoulda stocked up damn. wish i had bought a few more souvenirs too but pretty sure there will be more opportunities for that.

those wet look tights are here everywhere as well, better get myself a pair just so that i have one in my wardrobe, instead of borrowing cassie's every time i wanna wear them lol.

my dad is getting my contacts tomorrow, heaps cheeeeap. as for myself i'm going shopping with cammy, we're going to sneaker street. seen a MEAN pair of purple hi-top vans yesterday for like $500HK which equates to about $70AUD oodamn!! definately adding a bit of purple to my collection. didnt think i'd come back with many sneakers but idk if i'll be able to resist!!

my porpor is soooo cute. she nearly got run over yesterday :O shame on my mother for running across the road thinking that my porpor would be able to run just as fast. stupid woman. the cars/trucks/buses here must have immac breaks because i swear the truck was like 5m away going at like fckn 70km/hr which is fast for an alley!! so now all the 7 grandkids dont let porpor leave our sight and we all grab onto her when we cross the road lol! today was colder than usual wish i had taken a photo of her in her 493284093 jackets and beanie, covered with her hood! so cute <3

funny thing that made me smile today: was reading the description of tigers in chinese horoscope... "always changing their mind but very strong willed, happiest with dragons, many go on to become chefs (and other professions)". remind you of someone? well it sure reminded me of my ex boyfriend. and as for me (dragon): sometimes over confident, gives good advice, professions: doctors, dentist, teacher..." but the big one... "very independant. usually stays single." DUDE. lol killed my liiiiiiiiiiife! jokes. but really!!

lol. anyways. i got a list of wishlists from my friends :) gna have lots of fun going shopping for them tomorrow. so far we've only really been to markets, apart from MAC store. so i wanna go and take my two cousins to some department stores, those clothes are a little less honky and a bit more professional/classy. we'll see what we can get. really need a new work skirt, even though it's gna be winter soon... :S

anyways real tired atm. gotta wake up early to meet cammy so better get some rest.

miss you all.
xxxxxx

HK: day two

just woke up. chilling with my porpor waitin for my parents to bring me food.

yesterday was the bomb. the rest of my cousins ie. the mclellans & chongs arrived in the morning, and after i woke up we went downstairs to have yum cha <3 was heaps yummay as you would expect. after that some of us (the non jet lagged ones) went to the 'ghetto' of HK. it's not really a ghetto but more like the local shopping area where the locals get their shit from. lots of cheap jeans etc, so many different gadgets. pretty much every shop here is a variety store like them $2 shops lol.

ANYWAYS. after that i dont remember much. just shopped a hella heap. OHOH i got those canvas shoes... the lace up rabens.. for $2 a pair. DUDE. i stocked up on those ones haha.

we were at the markets last night, and i spotted a tiffany bracelet but it wasn't too flash, but i asked the shop lady if that's all she had... then she took a look at me and was like, OKOK! started calling someone on her phone? and i'm like oh nah don't worry about it... because over here, if you hassle them & ask questions then you GOTTA buy. and i didn't have any cash on me. but next shop i had a bit more cash, so i asked the lady... any more ;) ? and shes like... OKOK! and took me to the back and pulled out all this shit from her pocket! DUDE there was like bracelets, necklaces, everythiiing. i got a circle toggle bracelet for $10AUD <3 there was also lots and lots of chanel, cassie would looooove it!

i also got a few tops, and those black heels i got here like 2 years ago that i recently demolished in NZ? theyre still here! got a pair of them haha. the shoes here are crazzyyy, pretty sure kathleens bday shoes are here for like $30AUD.

anyways gotta have a shower etc, get ready for another day off MASSIVE ATTACK at the shops.

xxxx

HK: day one

yesterday was such a hectic day for me. had uni 10 - 1, then work 2 - 6, then my flight was at 10.20pm. got to the airport super early, so i just chilled with Harry Potter. place was empty by the time i got there anyways.

the flight wasn't pleasant. sat next to an English lady who wouldn't stop yapping away. all i wanted to do was sleep, but the seats were so uncomfortable... and there was a whole group of 50ish Japanese schoolgirls at the back of the plane... yuckkkk. anyways, arrived in HK at 4am, 50 minutes ahead of schedule. the shuttle bus to my hotel didn't start running until 6am so i was stranded... with no cash, and no where to change currencies!! my only option was to get in a cab and hope for a kind driver. jokes. got to the hotel and grabbed some cash off my half-asleep papa. then i knocked out, it was the best/worst feeling ever. i was so sticky and yuck but i didn't give a fuuuu.

today went exploring with my dad around 11ish am. he loves it here. its his home. i love it here too, i feel at home. i love going places with my dad because it's like he's a local and so i feel like one too. we ate congee for breakfast at a seedy little resteraunt but it was so good. then went to meet up with my cammy & co. went to the markets, boy oh boy i love the markets. i splurged a whole $30AUD on a a-grade imitation D&G bag. i likey. after markets caught the train to granville street, must admit that the fashion here has gone a little downhill. but still a sight nevertheless. had some wonton <3 and a bit of a feed after a few hours of shopping, then headed home.

the rest of my cousins arrive tomorrow morning. gonna be a massive group of 15 of us, rawrr.

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there's no such thing as being curteous in hong kong. the people here aren't rude, they just don't care... and i guess it's ok here when they all have the same mindframe. the only people you respect here are your elders... its a good wake up call. sorta like there's no fakes. its so different here, and its hard to explain. but i love it!